AMERICAN RAILWAYS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7189, 15 June 1885, Page 3

AMERICAN RAILWAYS.

I There are in the United States at the present time 1478 railway companies,, who own about 115,000 miles of road. The amount of capital invested in these roads reaches the enormous sum of 6,985,664,357 dollars, or more than four times the present national debt. The interest on this capital amounts to 251,366,814 dollars. During the last year there was moved on the roada no less than 360,490,375 tons of freight, for which the companies received 485,778,331 dollars. The number of passengers carried during the same period mounted" up to 375,391,812, for which the companies received in fares 194,060,150 dollars (about £38,000,000). These railways control many millions of acres of land and their influence is felt by nearly all. In the early park of 1884 railway competition was so fierce that the prospect of high earnings was not very encouraging. While these railway wars continue things are, as the Yankees say, "kind of lively." For several weeks last year a railway war waged, during which time it was possible to travel from Mil--1 waukee to "Indianapolis, a distance of , 190 miles, for five, cents ! This charge ' of twopence half-penny was not made . for the railway ticket, but for a chromo., [ which every passenger was supposed to ; buy. This prevented actual paupers from travelling, but that was all. Most of these companies have a large ', monopoly, and it is a well - known fact that they can build up a man's business or destroy it by means of the rates they will afford to give him for carrying his goods, This, however, is not so readily done on lines that are open to competition. The only monopoly in the United States which has practically no competition is the "Western Union Telegraph Oompanv," whose lines run to all corners of the United States and Canada, and in fact to all places. Its rise and progress hag been remarkable. It was started with a capital of a few millions only, but by the means of a process termed " watting " the company got its capital stock up to 80,000,000 dollars. The oompany owns 432,726 miles of wire, in addition to its immense railroad mileage, and has in al! 2,719 offices. During the year 40,681,177 messages were handled, the receipts for which amounted 'to 19,454,902 dollars, as against 17,114,165 dollars for the preceding year. The expenses for last year were 11,794,553 dollars, leaving a not profit. of 7,660,64S dollars upon an invested capital of no! more than 20,000,000 dollars. The

great success of Amerioan railroad and telegraph and telephone companies is mainly due to their reasonable freight and message rates.